stern ukraine after 16 hours of talks overnight. a cease-fire due to begin this weekend. world leaders call it a glimmer of hope to stop the fighting with pro-russian separatists. u.s. president barack obama says he is ready to send special forces into kiloliters of the islamic state group as he asks -- to kill leaders of the islamic state. an watchdog without borders says a drastic decline with more and more journalists directly

targeted. also on the way for you, no new deal on great debt. talks with eurozone's finance ministers fails to reach an agreement as greece reaches closer to bailout limbo. stephen carroll will have more in business without any "50 shades of grey" frenzy continues. we will take a look at the rising effect it has had on sex toys. more on that later this hour but first our top stories. world leaders seem cautiously optimistic after a night of peace talks on eastern ukraine. leaders from russia, ukraine france, and germany reached a deal to end the fighting with pro-russian separatists in the east.

more than 350 people have died there in 10 months of fighting. here is more now from the russian president vladimir putin. >> it has not been the best night of my life, but morning is a different matter because in spite of the difficulties we have encountered during discussions, we were able to agree on many points. incidentally, i believe the length of talks is linked regretfully with keyiev's refusal of direct contact with the people's republics. we need to understand reality. if you want to negotiate a long-term accord, you need to work in direct contact. >> after that meeting german chancellor angela merkel said she has no illusions after the talks in minsk and says big hurdle still remain. french president francois hollande also spoke to the press

after exiting the meeting room. >> it was a long night and a difficult task. but we have arrived at an agreement. an agreement on a cease-fire and on a global political resolution to the conflict in ukraine. the cease-fire will begin at midnight on sunday. >> that cease-fire the french president was just talking about is part of the deal that was cobbled together overnight. rob parsons has more from minsk on its chances. >> we do not know all the details yet, and fact we know that not all the details have been worked out yet. this is dealt very much a deal in the course of fruition for stop it has not been completely realized yet, but the outlines of it certainly are they are and most importantly of course

there will be a cease-fire beginning on the 15th of this month. by the end of the month, in syria at least all heavy weaponry should be withdrawn from the area of the cease-fire. the detail of that not yet reached, it could be anything between 15 and 30 kilometers. further down the road, we know there will be more talks about what status the breakaway part of eastern ukraine will get. ukrainians apparently sticking in their heels on a question of autonomy for the region, despite enormous pressure from the russians. in syria at least by the end of the year, ukraine should regain control of its border with russia. between now and the end of february, between now and the end of the year, an awful lot can go wrong. we do not really know exactly how committed the rebels themselves are to this agreement. we heard yesterday, for instance, there was a lot of dissent amongst them.

they wanted to push ahead with their current offensive. the russians are fully behind this deal, at the moment it appears that they are, and it will put enormous pressure on the rebels to make sure that they fall into line. >> rob, angela merkel speaking after the meeting today said we have no illusions, there is still very much work needed to do in ukraine. one for you is going to be the biggest sticking point? >> one of the biggest sticking points is the question of the status of the region. also the territory that the region is going to occupy. at the moment, it does not occupy the whole of what was formerly the donetsk region. it is about 2/3 of that region. the rebels have been the manning that they have the entire territory because without the entire territory, they say they will not be politically and financially economically viable. ukrainians have dug in their heels.

they are not compared to -- they are not prepared to concede anymore. there has been a lot of arguing over exactly what the cease-fire line will be. we do not know exactly where it is going to be, but it seems a compromise has been reached. vladimir putin himself said he had not got all he wanted. it had been a difficult night for him, which does suggest compromise from the russian side as well. ultimately it is going to question not as much of the cease-fire line but what is the status of the east ukrainian area that the rebel territory is going to be? ukraine is saying no to autonomy, but are the rebels prepared to accept anything less? remember a few months ago they had a referendum, and a declared themselves independent. other words, there is an enormous amount of ground between the two sides which has yet to be resolved. >> a lot of that depends on russia and on vladimir putin because if he decides to dry up the funds then the rebels will

not have any way to pursue their cause, correct? >> well, you would have thought so genie yes, that would make sense. bear in mind, though, the west, ukraine has been saying that russia is behind this conflict, that its troops and weapons are feeding the conference financing the conflict will stop russia has all along tonight it has anything to do with this. it denies sending weapons. when they agree, for instance, on the withdrawal of foreign troops, foreign mercenaries from eastern ukraine, the russians will say well, it has got nothing to do with us, but it is a starting points that the russians had agreed to this. they will put pressure on the rebels. there is no doubt that if the russians do apply the pressure, do cut off the flow of weapons and finance at the source, there is no doubt that the rebels will have to file in line with

moscow. >> archie for an editor robert parsons in minsk. -- our chief foreign editor robert parsons in minsk. kiev in regards to this deal what more are you hearing? >> as rob was saying, it is clear that an agreement to withdraw all foreign troops from the territory signed by one party who refuses to admit, despite all the evidence, that its troops are present on the territory is bad. it is not worth the paper it is printed on. the pretty are certainly hoping there is genuine and will from russia here, but russia's determination to continue lying in spite of all of the evidence of the level of its participation in this conflict is certainly very worrying. also, there is a bit of a sense that petro poroshenko is trying to paint a better picture than reality.

he has come out saying the agreement contains no autonomy or special status for the region of donetsk, the area at least of those regions that are controlled by the separatists. the russian media has been reporting that ukraine has promised some sort of cost of two at constitutional reform could include some kind of autonomy for those regions which could probably just go by another name. certainly all of those ukrainian support for the pro-european government in favor of greater integration with the european union do not want for russia to have any power of the tell via -- of veto, via autonomy, of course that is what russia wants, and they are making ukrainians believe russia has been defeated, because in the run-up to these talks --

another thing petro poroshenko came out feeling positive about was that ukraine was going to regain control of its border with russia. well, then when you look at the fine print, it says ukraine will regain its parts of the border by the end of 2015. all sorts of things can happen between now and then. >> gulliver, what about the situation between minsk and ukraine? we have heard that some 50 tanks crossed into ukraine from russia just last night. what more can you tell it about that? >> that was announced by ukraine's military spokesperson a little earlier. that clearly goes very much against the spirit of these peace talks if it is true. he has been caught in the past to giving information that was not subsequently confirmed, but he is saying the ukrainian armed

forces have evidence of this incursion coming in from russia, and he is ukraine's official mouthpiece on the topic, and if that is true, it is rather worrying but the russians were on ruling to close the border. repeated exultation's from ukraine to close the border, russia consistently refused to do it. they refused to close the border or to hand the border back to ukrainian control before the end of this year, so that clearly suggests that they have the intention of using the border crossings controlled by the pro-russian separatists to send weaponry and military personnel in. >> gulliver greg, thank you for that, reporting from kiev. the outcome of the talks and mentor dude who discussions in brussels at the ukrainian summit. ukraine president is due to go to that meeting along with

friends while plus, -- along with francois hollande. what can we expect out of this meeting today, and assuming that it does indeed get underway? >> we are still a couple of hours away from the beginning of the summit. of course it was held back a bit by the marathon talks in minsk. we are expecting petro poroshenko to be here this afternoon to brief eu leaders about the details of that deal. we will be hearing from angela merkel the german chancellor, later in brussels. we can expect the eu leaders here at 28 heads of state and government to cautiously welcomed the minsk agreements, but of course we are well aware that angela merkel and francois hollande are already managing exit stations, emphasizing that this is not a breakthrough.

one official i spoke to yesterday was telling me very early litmus test if this deal is signed, which it now has been, would be a cease-fire, whether a cease-fire actually holds. of course european leaders are very aware of the fact that after the first minsk agreements was signed in september, that cease-fire did not hold. so there is plenty of room for pacifism here, but at the very least, eu leaders might be able to say in the short-term to the united states, hold off on arming ukraine and let's give this diplomatic push a more details. >> armen where has this minsk deal left sanctions on russia/ ? >> will at the last meeting of eu foreign ministers here, a list was drawn up of 19 individuals and companies that are in theory supposed to come under sanctions, but the european countries in question

have held off on that for now. they are going to a to see if this minsk agreement sticks before implementing those sanctions. of course these are not wide ranging, economic sanctions as some european countries have said they might be in favor of but it is always the stick that eu tries to hold over russia, in other words, play along and honor your agreements come otherwise we will extend more sanctions. whether or not those threats of had an impact over the course of the war in ukraine is obvious the another question. >> all right armen, thank you for that, armen georgian reporting live. the two remaining al jazeera journalists have been reportedly released mohamed fahmy and baher mohamed, after 400 days in

prison. the two men and a third colleague, australian peter greste who was released two weeks ago, were originally sentenced to seven years in jail before a retrial was ordered. meanwhile, journalism watchdog reporters without borders says freedom of the press has suffered a drastic decline with more and more journalists directly targeted. in its annual evaluation, the group says that is partly due to extremist groups like islamic state and boko haram. >> it is a grading of countries, a grading of governments. the states that go after journalists are often despotic once, they lock up and repressed journalists i means of laws or henchmen but it is not just states. there are extremely strict politically religious groups like the islamic state

organization which pulled journal is out of areas they control, but they use their equipment to convey their propaganda. that is just as much boko haram in nigeria and other countries around. >> let's go now to the united states and when president barack obama waged war on the islamic state group left the summer, he did so under his presidential powers, but now he is finally cementing his plan to congress for formal approval. if it passes, it will deflect chris is a met obama acted unconstitutionally -- it will deflect criticism that president obama acted unconstitutionally. >> month into the campaign to destroy the islamic state group, president barack obama formally asks the congress approval. >> make no mistake this is a difficult solution, and it will

remain that way for some time. it will take time to wipe out these terroristss, especially fro urban areas. isil is on the defensive, and isil is going to lose. >> both of the senate and house of representatives must approve the plan, and it may take time. democrats have criticized the text for being too broad, while republicans want to see stronger measures against the militants. as it stands, the request prevents any large-scale invasion by u.s. ground troops for the next three years. speaker john boehner says he expects the plan to change of vegas two basis. >> i believe if we are going to authorize the use of military force, the president should have all the tools necessary to win the fight that we are in. the president's point is that he was to dismantle and destroyed isis. i have not seen a strategy of that i think will accomplish that. >> obama was criticized for failing to seek congressional

backing to fight the state's group until now. it is the first time he has made an attempt for a full will cherry operation. the last time one was pass was under george w. bush in 2002, authorizing war in iraq. >> in italy now, the captain of the cap size costa concordia has been sentenced to 16 years in jail. francesco schettino was on guilty of the crash of the cruise liner in 2012. he was convicted for the death of 32 people who died when the ship sank. >> a damning verdict will stop after a 19-month trial the disgraced skipper of the costa concordia was found guilty of multiple man's letters, abandoning ship, and he was sentenced to 16 years in prison, 10 years less than what was asked for, but they say it is a victory nonetheless. >> the charges and the

prosecution's case were all included and confirmed in every aspect of this verdict. >> schettino was a no-show for the verdict but in the final hours of his trial, he accused the prosecution of scapegoating him. >> i spent three years living in what is undeniably a media-led me to greater. -- media-led meatgrinder. the strategies carried out to isolate me in his trial and in my personal life have been used to influence the media who -- not all of them of course -- have fallen into this trap in the distorted the reality and the fact. >> the costa concordia ripped apart after running aground. the passengers trapped, 32 people died. schettino is accused of abandoning them as he jumped

ship. throughout his trial, his lawyers argued that he prevented further disaster by steering the ship close to ground and says the blame should be shared with the cruise company. schettino has been banned from public office for life. he is also for bid and from working -- forbidden from working as a captain. he has to appeal to overturn the plea the build -- overturn the guilty verdict. >> stephen carroll, news of minsk is coming after the imf announced a massive bailout for ukraine. >> that is right, before the billion dollar funding package coming from the imf, they will be contributed over half of that. the deal is the fourth international bailout that ukraine has gotten in 10 years without the money is badly needed. in december, the imf gave $15 billion to avoid bankruptcy for step ukraine's economy has been battered by the war and eased which is costing up to $1090 a day. oliver perry has more. >> ukraine is getting his fourth

international bailout in 10 years. imf chief christine lagarde announced the rescue plan thursday morning. >> it is ambitious, it is not without risk, but we believe that it is a realistic set of macroeconomic framework first and ambitious reforms, but reforms of the authorities feel confident they can deliver. >> the on imf will deliver the $40 billion to be forwarded over the course of four years. kiev has already received $4.5 billion as part of a previous package agreed last year. as the finance minister told us last month, the war with pro-separatists in the east of the country is crippling ukraine's economy. >> dealing with three sets of problems, first, the war, which is costing us $17 to $10 million

a day. we are having to pay for the electricity and gas and heating and not being reports -- not being reimbursed. it is $1 billion basically subsidized and we have lost 20% of the economy so we are in a situation where it is not good. >> the great asked the imf to replace the existing bailout to help it face off bankruptcy. and you return, ukraine will have to claim down further on corruption, raise energy prifces, and overhaul the gas company. >> with greece, there was no new bailout deal. >> that is right, no deal. the greek finance minister yanis varoufakis had gone into this meeting hoping to get european partners to agree to a bridging deal that would give greece interim finance while it renegotiated its massive 240 billion euro bailout. the bailout extension and said pass the current deadline a

federer or 28, but that would require the greek government to implement austerity measures which they have planned not to do. a joint statement from the meeting, both sides felt some progress had been made. >> we had an intense discussion and constructive, covering a lot of ground. also making progress but not enough progress yet at this point to come to a joint conclusion. >> we understand each other much, much better now than we did this morning, so i think it is a major issue because from understanding, agreement follows. >> of course the european council meeting taking place today will allow the first up close encounter with angela merkel, as they will be sure to something on the sidelines of that meaningful eurogroup meeting of the finance ministers is on monday. they are hoping to make more

progress on a deal that. >> what kind of market reaction? >> let's look at what is happening in athens today. shares are actually up on the news. obviously some optimism from investors despite the lack of an agreement at least for not meeting the markets recovering some of those losses they have seen. across the rest of the european market shares, boosted from the news about the peace deal with ukraine, new stimulus measures from sweden. german shares coming can see the frank for dax, -- the frankfurt dax, forced germany's economy is linked to russia's. let's look at company news. french oil company total says the falling oil prices have cost atit $6.5 billion. that was announced as they said they lost $5.5 million over the period. investment of over $2 billion

this year. a difficult year ahead for the french lender société general e. the bank proposed a rise in net profits to $5.11 million. and 1000 jobs here after profits tripled in 2014. net income reported at renault at 9 billion euros last year despite losses of 180 million. >> 1000 new jobs for france, wow. let's wrap up with the korean air executive at the center of the air raid incident over a bag of nuts have been given prison time. >> the daughter of the korean air's chairman, she ordered a plane back to the gate in new york over the fact that she was

served macadamia nuts. she was found guilty of assaulting the crewmember and striking the captain. she was sentenced to one year in

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